RHTA includes assistance to support affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH). AFFH stems from the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, as well as from federal regulations updated in July 2021. California legislation enacted in 2018 (AB 686) likewise requires all public agencies in the state to affirmatively further fair housing and avoid any actions that are inconsistent with this obligation. ABAG’s Equity Platform also supports this work.

AFFH Policies and Programs Toolkit

The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Policies and Programs Toolkit can assist local jurisdictions with completing the crucial step of establishing AFFH goals, policies and actions in the Housing Element. The toolkit highlights 15 key strategies Bay Area jurisdictions can implement to further fair housing. This document was reviewed by HCD staff and incorporates their feedback. 

HCD has emphasized in comments on jurisdictions’ draft Housing Elements that AFFH should be central to the Housing Element’s overarching goals and inform all objectives and policies. Accordingly, Appendix A of the toolkit provides a narrative example illustrating how a jurisdiction can connect its fair housing analysis and identification of contributing factors to the goals, objectives, programs, and actions in the Housing Element. Appendix A also presents an example of a matrix of actions jurisdictions can include in their Housing Elements to detail how they will implement the programs needed to achieve their goals and objectives during the Housing Element period. Appendix A is included in the full toolkit and can also be accessed as a separate document via this link.

Segregation Reports

Pioneering research conducted by the University of California, Merced and STIR Labs on behalf of ABAG, studies segregation patterns and current land use policies that correlate with patterns of racial segregation. These reports and datasets examine racial and income segregation in Bay Area jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction’s report and accompanying dataset provide segregation measures for both the local jurisdiction and the region using several indices, as required by the AFFH guidance issued by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). Local jurisdiction staff can use the segregation report and dataset to complete a component of the Assessment of Fair Housing, which requires analysis of segregation patterns related to race, other protected characteristics, and lower-income households.

The segregation reports for each jurisdiction are available now via this Box folder, which contains an individual PDF for each jurisdiction. These reports can also be downloaded as an editable Word document in each jurisdiction's Housing Element Site Selection (HESS) Tool account. Log into the HESS Tool to access your jurisdiction’s Dashboard, click on the “Data Packets” button, and select “AFFH Segregation Report.” Local planning staff and Housing Element consultants who do not yet have access to the HESS Tool may register here. 

HESS 2.0 - AFFH Map

The HESS 2.0 AFFH Map provides AFFH analysis of jurisdictions' Sites Inventory. The AFFH Map provides a distribution of the selected sites alongside various AFFH data layers. Users can view a wide range of AFFH-related data points for the neighborhood surrounding each site, including race, income, household types, neighborhood characteristics, and housing needs. In addition, tabulated summaries identify selected sites compared to the total sites in their jurisdiction based on key AFFH indicators. 

Leading with Equity Work Group

The work group convened in 2022 and focused on promoting leadership development, capacity building toward navigating institutional change, peer-support and one-on-one coaching. The lessons from the work group helped participants develop tools and products to aid jurisdiction staff in embedding equity into their housing policy and planning work. 

AFFH Policies and Program Resources

• AFFH Comments from HCD, Sample Analyses.
• AFFH Policy Tips Memo
• AFFH Policy Resources - Annotated Bibliography
• Video introducing ABAG research in partnership with UC Merced on segregation and land use policies
• HCD’s AFFH Webinar on Implementing AB 686: Guidance for Housing Elements.
• HCD Guidance on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing
• HCD Summary of Requirements AB 686 added to Housing Element Law
• AFFH Template Staff Report
• AFFH Template Staff Slide Deck
• AFFH Data Guidance Checklist.
• High-Resource Areas Question and Answer Session with HCD

ABAG, in collaboration with The Government Alliance on Race and Equity and Ground Works Consulting, has published Advancing Racial Equity in Housing, Land and Development, a toolbox for racial equity practitioners in government. This resource includes materials for local government staff and their community partners to embed racial equity in housing and planning agencies’ structures, policies and practices. View and download the toolkit. 

For more information about Housing Equity/AFFH contact:

Daniel Saver, Assistant Director, Housing & Local Planning
Email: dsaver@bayareametro.gov
Phone: 415-778-6789